9 Pakistanis named for 7/11 terror

Mumbai: The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Mumbai police on Thursday named nine Pakistanis as accused in the Mumbai serial train blasts case, which left over 190 people dead and 400 others injured on July 11 this year.

In its chargesheet running over one lakh pages, the ATS named a total of 28 accused, out of which 13 are already in judicial custody. The ATS is still looking for 15 others.

The chargesheet was filed in a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Act (MCOCA) court. The ATS said the Railways incurred losses worth of Rs 2.8 crore in the blasts.

The chargesheet said nine of the accused, including main conspirator Azam Cheema, are Pakistani nationals. Faisal Shaikh and Asif Khan alias Junaid are shown as the prime conspirators among the accused. The are already in police custody.

The chargesheet comprising about 10,000 pages in respect of each of the 13 arrested accused were brought in 15 bags to the court.

The accused have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, MCOCA, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Explosives Act, Explosive Substances Act, Railway Act, Passport Act and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

The ATS proposes to examine around 2,000 witness in the case, the official said.

On Wednesday, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan had also revealed that investigations in the case had revealed complicity of terror groups based in Pakistan.

"The investigations into this incident is complete and the involvement of nine Pakistan-based jehadi terrorists, of whom one died, has been confirmed," Narayanan said, while addressing an international seminar on "Growing Challanges of Terrorism with special reference to the Railways'.

He said more than a score of Indians involved with these Pakistani terrorists had been arrested and charge-sheeted, though the eight Pakistanis involved managed to escape to their country.

Narayanan said the investigation had revealed that Pakistanis came through three different routes -- Bangladesh, Nepal and the sea route -- and were directly involved in the planting of the bombs.

The explosives were stored in one of the residential suburbs of Mumbai and packed in pressure cookers before being placed in the first-class compartments.

''A great deal of advance planning and careful preparation had obviously gone into this act and it was masterminded by well-known jehadi leaders in Pakistan like Azam Cheema," he added.